28. Comprehensive Plan

Food deserts and home-based cottage business.

Having entered the rabbit hole of bureaucracy, this is part three of my deep dive in to the Kitsap County Municipal Code. This article focuses on the Comprehensive Plan. What is it and how does it impact how I use my lot?

Municipal Code

The Comprehensive Plan is reference in the Kitsap County code, located here, and you can dig into Chapter 17 to learn about zoning in the county.

I recently learned that conditional use permits must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. So, what is this plan?

Comprehensive Plan

According to Kitsap County:

A Comprehensive Plan is a 20-year blueprint for local policy, planning and capital facility investment. This plan is used as a guide for local governments through the establishment of vision statements, goals, objectives, policies, and implementing actions. This framework is intended to guide the day-to-day decisions of elected officials and local government staff.

The next plan will be published in December of this year (2024). A preview was published on December 15, 2023. Let’s take a peek!

Draft Prevew

The Draft PDF is 263 pages. Wow, this may take some time to digest. Here are some interesting excerpts:

I did not realize that most of the county is rural, not just by area, but also by population:

Population Targets 2022-2044

Source: Page 13 — 121523 Kitsap County - Combined Draft Comp Plan.pdf

Interesting to see which key terms are highlighted: Accessory Dwelling Unit, Food deserts, Low-rise residential or apartments, Middle housing, and Mid-rises residential or aparments.

Key Terms

Source: Page 17 — 121523 Kitsap County - Combined Draft Comp Plan.pdf

I continued my search with the key work Rural. Here are a few interesting bits that rose to the top. This land use goal has an interesting take on food security. Community gardens and farmers markets? I would like that.

Land Use Goal 8 - Food Security

Source: Page 34 — 121523 Kitsap County - Combined Draft Comp Plan.pdf

Here are the land use goals for rural area:

Land Use Goal 16 - Rural Character

Source: Page 51 — 121523 Kitsap County - Combined Draft Comp Plan.pdf

Interesting goals for rural business, especially the home-based cottage-type business:

Land Use Goal 17 - Rural Business

Source: Page 52 — 121523 Kitsap County - Combined Draft Comp Plan.pdf

Well, that was kind of interesting. My next step is to win the lottery so that I could expand my dreams here in rural Kitsap County.